• PETA MEMBER WANTS ROADSIDE MEMORIAL FOR CHICKENS: GAINESVILLE, Ga. (AP) — An animal rights advocate wants to place a roadside memorial in Georgia to remember several chickens killed in a highway wreck.

A member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals filed an application for the memorial Wednesday with the Georgia Department of Transportation.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (that, if approved, a memorial would be placed at the Hall County site where a truck hauling live chickens overturned Jan. 27.

Sarah Segal of Atlanta writes in her application that she wants to place a 10-foot tombstone memorial for one month on the right of way of U.S. 129 to mark the deaths of the chickens.

The driver of the chicken truck and the other vehicle involved were not seriously injured.



• 50,000 TEXTS HANDED OVER IN MAINE DIVORCE CASE: PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A Maine supreme court justice says a cellphone company turned over more than 50,000 text messages in a divorce case in which a protection order was in place.

Justice Donald Alexander criticized U.S. Cellular, saying it violated federal privacy law.

The lawyer for the husband in the case used subpoenas to get the texts from the wife and another man and was suspended for six months.

The judge ordered the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar to alert state and federal prosecutors about U.S. Cellular’s practices. He says U.S. Cellular violated the federal Stored Communications Act.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Cellular Corp. said Thursday the Chicago-based company is looking into the matter.

The judge’s order was signed Jan. 31 and was first reported by the Bangor Daily News.



• HAWAII STUDENT FINDS SNAIL IN SCHOOL LUNCH: HONOLULU (AP) — Officials at a high school on Hawaii’s Big Island say they’re increasing the level of food inspection at its cafeteria after a student found a snail in his lunch.

The student found the snail Wednesday on a salad served at the Kealakehe High School cafeteria. Principal Wilfred Murakami said the salad ingredients were washed properly by cafeteria staff.

“We drain it, strain it in a colander and go ahead and turn it into a salad,” he said. “And in this particular case, one of the snails was lodged in one of the leaves.”

Murakami said the lettuce brought in by a local vendor in recent days had more snails than usual, KHON-TV reported. He added he is taking the matter very seriously.

Snails and slugs can contain parasites that can attack the nervous system, causing rat lungworm disease. Hawaii state epidemiologist Sarah Park said the illness can be debilitating, taking months or years of rehabilitation to recover.



• POLICE: ART THIEF AMONG 2 HELD IN VIOLIN HEIST: MILWAUKEE (AP) — The mystery of what happened to a multimillion-dollar Stradivarius violin stolen in a stun gun attack was answered Thursday when Milwaukee police recovered the instrument and blamed the heist at least in part on an art thief who once stole a statue from a gallery and then tried to sell it back.

The violin, which was built in 1715 by the renowned Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari, is valued at $5 million. It was found hidden in a suitcase in the attic of a man who police said was unaware the instrument was in his home.

Three people have been arrested in the case, and Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn said there was no evidence of other “shadowy” figures from the art world behind the theft.

“It appears we had a local criminal who had an interest in art theft and was smart enough to develop a plan for a robbery,” Flynn said. “Beyond that, we don’t know what his motive was.”

The violin, which police said appeared to be in good condition, was stolen late last month from a concert violinist who was shocked with a stun gun. His attacker grabbed the violin and hopped into a waiting vehicle.

Police traced the stun gun to Universal Knowledge Allah, a 36-year-old barber. A citizen’s tip led police to Salah Jones, the 41-year-old man convicted of stealing a $25,000 statue from a gallery at Milwaukee’s posh Pfister Hotel in 1995.



• MILD QUAKE SHAKES CALIFORNIA COAST NEAR SAN SIMEON: SAN SIMEON  (AP) — Communities along the central California coast were shaken by a light offshore earthquake Thursday, but no damage was reported.

The magnitude-4.1 temblor occurred at 11:42 a.m. and was centered 9 miles southwest of San Simeon, the scenic rural location of Hearst Castle. The popular tourist destination is about 240 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

The quake occurred at a depth of about 2 miles and was followed within minutes by a small aftershock.

Terri Lee Guthrie said she felt it while working the front desk at Cambria Landing Inn and Suites in Cambria, 11 miles from the epicenter.

“My associate was sitting in a chair and the chair shook, and I felt the ground move, and there was a flower arrangement and it moved around. We looked at each other and said, ‘Was that an earthquake?’” Guthrie said.

The earthquake was not felt at the central coast’s Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, said Tom Cuddy, a spokesman for Pacific Gas and Electric Co.



• SNOOPY LICENSE PLATES TO BENEFIT CALIF. MUSEUMS: SACRAMENTO  (AP) — A smiling Snoopy is making his way onto California license plates to raise money for museums and related attractions.

The plates initially cost $50 or $98 for personalized versions, with a lower price for renewing annually.

Proceeds will fund grants for California’s 1,400 museums, science centers, zoos, aquariums and children’s museums, to be administered by the California Cultural and Historical Endowment.

The plate design was revealed Thursday during a news conference hosted by the author of the license plate bill, Democratic Assemblywoman Toni Atkins of San Diego.

Californians can apply for the plates at www.snoopyplate.com . The state will not begin making them until it has received 7,500 applications.

Jean Schulz, the widow of “Peanuts” comic strip creator Charles Schulz, is allowing the state to use Snoopy’s image without paying royalties.